Sergey Syzranov
My publications on arXiv
Every material is imperfect: it contains frozen-in disorder, such as impurities, missing atoms, and dislocations. Instead of just “ruining” subtle quantum behavior, these defects can create new physics: they can lead to novel phase transitions, generate unusual magnetic textures, and even expose hidden energy scales that pristine crystals keep concealed.
My group studies how quenched disorder reshapes a wide range of quantum materials. One active direction focuses on quantum spin liquid (QSL) candidates, exotic magnets where spins behave more like a fluid than an ordered array, with a potential for quantum-information applications. In recent work with experimentalist A. P. Ramirez, we showed that deliberately adding vacancies can reveal a previously hidden energy scale, below which many QSL-candidate materials freeze into a random magnetic state and which also has fingerprints in thermodynamics and neutron scattering.
In a separate line of work, we explore how defects can act like tiny magnets. A single missing atom may create an emergent “quasispin,” which open intriguing prospects for robust, non-volatile magnetic memory and information processing.
Finally, disorder strongly determines electrical conduction and may sometimes turning a metal into an insulator. For an overview of these directions of research, see papers below: